Impressive performance on Saturday night make him next contender
Joe Joyce (right) in action. Picture: Frank Warren
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April 13, 2023
The possibility has been raised that Putney boxer Joe Joyce could be in the ring with Tyson Fury by the end of the year.
Boxing promoter Frank Warren has said he is definitely being considered as the next opponent for the WBC heavyweight champion after a recent lacklustre performance by Anthony Joshua.
Warren suggested that Joshua was becoming an ‘diminishing force’ on the global stage and should have won the fight against Jermaine Franklin, which he says was set up to boost his confidence, with much greater ease.
He continued, “It wasn’t the worst performance, but the boxing world wanted to see Joshua throw off the shackles of self-doubt and recapture his former glories. Instead, he now seems mired in caution over fear of either being chinned or gassing out, which tends to have the same end result.
“His jab was decent and he maintained an even tempo across the 12 rounds, but there was little to suggest he is about to gatecrash the top echelon of the heavyweights again any time soon.
“The exact opposite can be said of Big Joe Joyce.”
The current WBO Interim world champion who attended Elliot School in Putney, is set to fight the ‘Big Bang’ Zhilei Zhang this Saturday (15 April) at the Copper Box Arena. The Chinese boxer is an Olympic silver medallist and was undefeated in 25 matches until his last fight against the Croatian Filip Hrgovic. Warren says the only people who thought he didn’t deserve the decision were his opponent’s ring-side team.
Negotiations between Fury and the Ukrainian, Oleksandr Uysk, for a fight that was scheduled for later this month, have broken down and Warren says he is not expecting a call from Anthony Joshua’s team either.
This could open the door for Joe Joyce and Warren has hinted strongly that an impressive performance at the weekend could put him in the frame for the biggest fight of his career and all British showdown with Fury. He brings to the ring a record of 15 fights undefeated with all but one by knockout earning him the nickname of ‘Juggernaut’. He had previously had Uysk in his sights for a career defining fight but the prospect of getting in the ring with Fury would be much more attractive.
Frank Warren says, “I believe Joe is now an elite heavyweight and ready to storm through the division. The public would love to see him in with the likes of Tyson, Deontay Wilder, Oleksandr Uysk and Joshua, with a sizeable majority tipping him to emerge successful.
“If he does a job on Zhang, it might well be the case that he will tempt Tyson into a defence of his WBC treasure. Tyson is overseas at the moment so I will be catching up with him soon to plot out his next moves.”
With a gap in the schedule due to the failure to agree terms with Uysk means that there is a gap for a fight this summer. Frank Warren’s son George has also been talking about Joe Joyce saying he is ‘in the conversation’ if he can put in a ‘devastating performance’ on Saturday night.
He added, "Sometimes he gets caught with too many big shots for our liking but somehow finds a way of doing what needs to be done. He ends up steamrolling through these guys.
"I am confident but we saw off the back of the Filip Hrgovic fight - that I thought Zhang won - that he can fight. Joe has got to be on his A-game. There is a lot on the line.
The 37-year-old local man, with a Fine Arts degree from Middlesex University, could find himself up against the self-styled King of the Gypsies and be the world champion by the end of the year.
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